Page 9 of Loving Nightmares
“Yes, precious?”
“I love you.”
His eyes almost crackled with lightning as he stared at me for a long moment before his lips met mine in a dangerously hot kiss. I let out a whimper as he finally pulled back, pinning me with a look full of need and so much affection it was nearly overwhelming.
“I love you. I have loved you from the start. Whether that is rational or sane doesn’t even matter because I love you. My mark is on you because you’re mine and I’m yours.”
And I loved that so, so incredibly much.
“Ours,” Damian called out from the other room. “She’sours.”
Amun chuckled. “Starting to understand what Saint meant about me putting myself in these situations.”
I let out a soft hum, going up on my toes to kiss him. “I love it.”
“Yes, we all love Amun so much,” Damian said in the driest voice possible, appearing in the door and offering me a small smile. “So thrilled to have you here, buddy—now get out. I need to talk to cherry blossom.”
Amun sighed, giving me a kiss before he left, ignoring Damian’s narrowed gaze. When he was gone, Damian flashed forward, wrapping his tail around me and lifting me up so we were eye level. I couldn’t help but smile as I peered into his beautiful gold eyes and inhaled his cigar and mint scent. I reached up, running my fingers over his horns and trying not to get turned on, but as always, all I could think about was all the times when those horns would be useful while we were doing much more entertaining things than dealing with some overblown, egotistical god terror.
“You wanted to talk?” I asked curiously. I felt him grow tense, but I knew it was because of my touch. For a long moment he only stared at me, trying to control his reaction.
I didn’t like his control.
Although I suppose with everything going on, now was not exactly the best time for it to break…
“Yes, although that is becoming harder,” he grumbled.
I bit my lip. “Not the only thing that’s hard…”
Damian kissed me, pushing me back against the wall of the bathroom. I whimpered, my legs wrapping around his largeframe while being held up by his tail. His hands were on either side of me, and I felt completely trapped in the best way possible.
“Do not say that right now,” he growled, pulling back. “We need to go to this meeting before I strip you bare and fuck you.”
“That’s not a threat,” I sang. He shook his head, looking broody as he carried me from the bathroom and dropped me down right in front of Blackwell. Clearly whatever he needed to talk to me about wasn’tthatimportant. He probably just wanted to be alone with me. Damian was cute like that.
The others were gathered by the door, ready to leave.
“Hey, you.” I offered Blackwell a happy smile.
“Don’t give me that,” he rumbled, offering me a speculative look. Blackwell was not nearly as willing to compromise as the others—in fact, I was surprised he was even letting me out of the room. I noticed briefly, as the others walked ahead and he ran a hand over my back, that he had changed into a pinstripe suit that fit perfectly to his 6’9” frame. His black hair was slicked back, his burning fire scent running over my skin as his dark eyes seemed to stare into my soul when they flickered down to me, willing me to bring up what was going on here.
I sighed. “Why are you upset?”
“Upset?” He chuckled softly. “I’m not upset, I’m fucking worried. Really worried. Furious you were injured and scared it will happen again. I’m not upset, love—I’m terrified.”
Damian came to a full stop and offered his best friend a look I didn’t fully understand, Amun and Razar walking ahead. Blackwell nodded for us to continue, he and Damian seeming to have a silent conversation before the first continued on.
I mulled over his words. Blackwell…was scared.
I turned into him and wrapped my arms around him, burying my head against his muscular torso. He let out a low rumble but wrapped his arms around me.
“Thank you for understanding why I need to be part of this,” I murmured. “I know it’s the last thing you want.”
“I want you safe, and I want you happy. As much as I would love to throw your little ass over my shoulder and lock you away somewhere, I know you would be mad—actually mad.” Blackwell sighed. “So we are going to do this. You aren’t leaving my fucking side though.”
I was more than okay with that.
After another squeeze, the five of us continued towards the meeting, my comfort melting away as we grew closer to the conference room. I wanted to know how our people were doing and what the status of the institute was outside of our wards. Ineededto know, and the lack of knowledge had me feeling on edge.
